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World aquatics championships pulled from Mtl
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| starsearcher |
This is so stupid and seems so typical to where we live...pathetic :whip: Why can't they get anything right (government and etc...)
| quote: | World swim championships pulled from Montreal
CTV.ca News Staff
It appears money problems have sunk plans to hold the 2005 world aquatic championships in Montreal, Quebec this summer.
In a unanimous decision announced Wednesday, aquatic sports' world governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Natation, said the city had fallen short of the requirements to host the competition in July.
"The FINA bureau regrets having had to make this decision but this was necessary to secure the holding of the championships 2005,'' the federation said in a statement.
Responding to word of the cancellation, organizers in Montreal said they never doubted their own ability to stage the championships, but nevertheless accepted the decision with "deep regret."
"The organizing committee always remained confident that it could organize successful championships in Montreal. However, the decision from FINA is the result of various partners not able to come to a compromise on the financing of the championships," their statement said.
Organizers of the two-week competition -- which was to include swimming, diving, water polo, and synchronized swimming -- has had trouble raising money to cover the budget promised when Montreal was named host back in 2001.
Despite the announcement Tuesday that Tourism Montreal would kick in an extra $500,000, hot on the heels of the Aquatic Federation of Canada's decision to forgo a $500,000 legacy it was promised by the games, the organizers were unable to cover a budget shortfall of millions.
Chief among their shortcomings was the inability to drum up sufficient support from corporate sponsors. In turn, it was believed sponsors remained uninterested because organizers sold just a fraction of the available tickets.
Anticipated as one of the largest sporting events to visit Montreal since the 1976 Olympics, federal, provincial and municipal governments had all poured millions into the project -- most of which was spent on a various infrastructure projects.
According to Aquatic Federation of Canada president Linda Cuthbert, pulling the games now will have the effect of "setting Canadian sport back several years."
"There are questions in the international community about Canada's commitment to sport. Any federation looking at hosting an event in the next 10 years, you can be sure they won't have confidence in our ability to host it," Cuthbert said.
FINA is expected to announce a new host city by mid-February.
Among the rumoured contenders are Long Beach, California, Athens, Greece and Germany's Munich or Berlin.
With files from The Canadian Press |
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| girllovingtvibe |
| so crappy - we can't get any funding it seems for a lot of artistic and sports events...very frustrating... |
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| malek |
| Shame on the federal govt for posting record surpluses and not fund elite sporting events... while banning advertizing by the tobacco industry. |
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| starsearcher |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
Shame on the federal govt for posting record surpluses and not fund elite sporting events... while banning advertizing by the tobacco industry. |
I even forgot we had a surplus...that's even more embarrasing now :nervous: :rolleyes: |
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| drgoodvibe |
| maybe paying down the national debt is more important at this time?? |
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| walkindude |
yes, its is is kinda sad that they are not going to have it..but,
- the cities should support these kind of things themselves...
-the olympics fiasco of '76, Quebec did not want Federal help for the games, and then Ottawa had to step in and do what they could so that the games would go on...
-If you read other sources, you will read that they werent actually selling that many tickets for the acquatic championships..... |
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| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by walkindude
yes, its is is kinda sad that they are not going to have it..but,
- the cities should support these kind of things themselves...
-the olympics fiasco of '76, Quebec did not want Federal help for the games, and then Ottawa had to step in and do what they could so that the games would go on...
-If you read other sources, you will read that they werent actually selling that many tickets for the acquatic championships..... |
For the ticket part, they started selling them 9 to 10 months before the event... its really hard to create enthusiasm for this kind of event that early... remember the number of tickets sold at the Greek Olympics?? They really started selling them weeks before the events... not months. |
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| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by drgoodvibe
maybe paying down the national debt is more important at this time?? |
hmm not really. Its not necessary to pay the national debt, it decreases by itself year after year.
Or at least, they don't have to spend the whole surplus for the debt. |
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| drgoodvibe |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
hmm not really. Its not necessary to pay the national debt, it decreases by itself year after year.
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Uhh if you leave the debt alone it doesn't decrease by itself, remember there is interest that the gov has to pay on it. This then means that the debt increases by itself even if we don't take on anymore debt.
http://www.ndir.com/SI/education/debt.shtml
http://canadianeconomy.gc.ca/englis...ublic_debt.html
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The cost of servicing that debt was about $45 billion, or 26% of all government spending.
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| malek |
The govt does pay the intrest every year. There's no discussing that.
What I am saying is that instead of paying some capital with the 8-9 billion surplus, the govt should invest it instead.
And when I am saying that the debt decreases by itself, i'm not talking about its nominal value (lets say 500 billions), but its value toward the Canadian GNP... remember something called inflation? |
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| drgoodvibe |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
The govt does pay the intrest every year. There's no discussing that.
What I am saying is that instead of paying some capital with the 8-9 billion surplus, the govt should invest it instead.
And when I am saying that the debt decreases by itself, i'm not talking about its nominal value (lets say 500 billions), but its value toward the Canadian GNP... remember something called inflation? |
that sounds like the route some other countries are taking. However I don't necessarily believe that's good policy. Paying down the national debt also makes the Canadian economy attractive to investors. Now if we don't have to pay the 45Billion to service that debt per year we would also have a much larger surplus which then we can use to fund social programs and such. If we only service the deficit and inflation it doesn't solve the inherent problem that is still there. However this discussion is still skewed, we're going on the idea that the government used the entire surplus to pay down the debt. |
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| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by drgoodvibe
that sounds like the route some other countries are taking. However I don't necessarily believe that's good policy. Paying down the national debt also makes the Canadian economy attractive to investors. Now if we don't have to pay the 45Billion to service that debt per year we would also have a much larger surplus which then we can use to fund social programs and such. If we only service the deficit and inflation it doesn't solve the inherent problem that is still there. However this discussion is still skewed, we're going on the idea that the government used the entire surplus to pay down the debt. |
I believe that funding infrastructures, education and health are good investments for the future of Canada... that could and would gross out even more surpluses from gained productivity.
I believe the last surplus was entirely put aside for debt payment if we don't count the special 2 billion cushion that the govt is puting aside every year in case of "emergencies". |
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